On the Development of Psychosocial Skills in Genetic Counseling Programs: Perspectives from Recent Graduates

ABSTRACT The Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC) has listed psychosocial skills as one of the domains of Practice Based Competencies (PBC) which are expected competencies for an entry-level genetic counselor. To gain understanding of how students are trained in psychosocial skills and determine practitioner attitudes on these skills, 25 genetic counselors in their first one to two years of practice were interviewed remotely. A total of 19 unique training programs and all major subspecialties were represented in the sample. Interviews were transcribed and coded for major themes relating to attitudes, training techniques, and opinions on effectiveness of training. These data suggest that experiential training is highly effective, the majority of genetic counselors think psychosocial skills are very important, and that the supervisor-supervisee relationship highly influences the development of psychosocial skills